Abstract
Background
Sleep health (SH) is considered a key determinant of human physiological and psychological
well-being. In line with this, previous studies have found that poor sleep is associated
with various psychiatric disorders, in particular, with anxiety and depression. Although
little is known about the neural mechanisms underlying these associations, recent
findings suggest that essential dimensions of SH are associated with altered amygdala
reactivity (AR); however, evidence to date is inconsistent and reliant on small sample
sizes.
Methods
To address this problem, the current preregistered study investigated associations
between SH and AR to negative facial expressions in the UK Biobank cohort (25,758
participants). Drawing on a large sample size and consistent data acquisition, 5 dimensions
of SH (insomnia symptoms, sleep duration, daytime sleepiness, chronotype, and sleep
medication) were examined.
Results
Exploratory analyses revealed that short sleep duration was associated with decreased
AR. The remaining SH dimensions and a composite measure of all SH dimensions were
not associated with AR.
Conclusions
To our knowledge, this is the largest study to test associations between SH and AR.
Habitual short sleep duration may be associated with decreased AR, possibly indicating
compensation for impaired prefrontal processes and hampered emotion regulation.
Keywords
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: May 26, 2022
Accepted:
May 11,
2022
Received in revised form:
May 5,
2022
Received:
September 14,
2021
Publication stage
In Press Journal Pre-ProofIdentification
Copyright
© 2022 Society of Biological Psychiatry.
